Bait continues to struggle as Looper opens strongly at box office

Australian shark film Bait is struggling to win an audience in its second week at the local box office.

The 3D shark flick took a very low $825 screen average across 231 screens, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

In its second weekend, the film made $190,000, taking its Australian box office to 776,000 for distributor Paramount.

The genre film follows a group of stranded shoppers in a submerged supermarket after Tsunami hits, getting terrorised by a great white shark.

The film placed 13th in the Thursday to Sunday top 20 films.

Also in its second week, Australian film Lore, directed by Cate Shortland and distributed by Paramount/Transmission took $44,000 across 12 screens for a $3,692 screen average. The film has taken today $174,700.

In new release, time-travel bounty hunter film Looper, distributed by Roadshow took $2.916m. Across 276 screens, the film starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis averaged a very respectable $10,568.

It was enough to place second for the weekend, behind Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, taking $3.602m across 530 screens for a $6,797 average. In its third week, the film has now taken $14.805m.

Arbitage, a drama starring Richard Gere, distributed by Madman, opened in sixth place on $596,000, averaging $8,053 across 74 screens while On The Road, the adaptation of the Jack Kerouac novel, distributed by Icon, made $81,000 across 29 screens for a $2,785.

OMG Oh My God!, distributed by Saggi, made $80,000 across 12 screens for a $6,684 average.

Other Australian films at the box office included The Sapphires, Kath & Kimderella, Storm Surfers 3D and Not Suitable For Children.

The Sapphires added another $331,000, taking the eOne/Hopscotch film to $13.341m while Kath & Kimderella, distributed by Roadshow took $330,500, taking the film to $5.533m.

Storm Surfers 3D, distributed by Madman added another $14,855 taking it to 623,000 while Not Suitable For Children, distributed by Icon, re-entered the limited release charts, screening on one screen and added $1,757 taking the total to $513,829.

You have to be kidding me! Who on earth thought a movie like BAIT would ever be anything more than a piece of direct-to-DVD crap which in turn would be headed straight for the bargain bin?

It’s rubbish like this which makes a mockery of the next time we hear cries to support the Aussie movie industry against international incursions. Churn out this rubbish and you get exactly what you deserve.